Ayn Rand Advocacy Group Says: Do Away With the Commission

"Abolish the FCC." You may have felt like saying that at times, but the Ayn Rand Institute on Thursday (Sept. 9) put out a press release calling for just that. "The Super Bowl 'wardrobe malfunction 'has now been ruled a criminal act and the FCC has fined CBS an incredible half-million dollars for the incident," it stated. The commission has not actually released a decision on this case. "The very existence of the FCC - and its mandate to determine what is in 'the public interest' - is a flagrant violation of the right to free speech," wrote the organization's Dr. Robert Garmong. "Politicians have begun whispering about censoring PBS or the Fox News Channel, on the grounds that its alleged biases violate the 'public interest.' The liberals, with their political correctness, and the conservatives, with their puritanical religious ethics, both claim to speak for the 'public interest.' Can it be long before the two sides openly battle over which political ideas Americans are allowed to see and hear on-air?" The Ayn Rand Institute Web site says the organization seeks to promote the principles of the controversial late author, "an ardent advocate of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and free-market capitalism."